The Helicarrier is an advanced aerial vehicle with a design and function closely resembling that of a modern aircraft carrier. Specifically, the Helicarrier is designed to be capable of sustained, independently-powered flight, via four, massive engines that provide the lift needed to keep it in the air. After the Attack on the Helicarrier, Tony Stark upgraded the Helicarriers so that they relied on repulsor technology rather than turbines, allowing them to stay in the air indefinitely.

S.H.I.E.L.D. relied on Helicarriers as highly strategic mobile bases from which they could perform a number of effective reconnaissance, stealth deployment, or direct strike operations.

Contents

Helicarrier No. 64

Mission Control

Phil Coulson acted as mission control for Natasha Romanoff during an undercover mission in Moscow to approach Russian arms dealer Mikhail Fjodorov. Coulson had to guide Romanoff to provide her an escape route from the nightclub she was undercover as a hostess when Fjodorov was killed and Romanoff was framed for the crime. Coulson told her about a Glider Harness concealed in the rooftop of the club, a safe means of escape that surprised Romanoff.

Coulson contacted again to check if she managed to arrive at the hotel, and informed Romanoff of the details of a planned extraction. He lost contact as Romanoff was attacked by a group of mercenaries from Eaglestar, and when he managed to regain contact in presence of Director Nick Fury, Romanoff took herself off-line in order to trace Sofia, the actual killer of Fjodorov and the responsible of the attack at the hotel.

Romanoff regained S.H.I.E.L.D.'s assistance after meeting Coulson at Sochi, and he helped Romanoff from inside the Helicarrier in her infiltration of Sojourn Enterprises at Vladivostok, informing her of what Fjodorov was trying to sell and Sofia managed to obatain, the targetting system for Hammer Industries version of the Jericho missile.

Coulson assembled a series of strike teams to raid the intended launch site for the missiles upon discovering the identity of Sofia's employer, Richard Frampton, an industrialist and also a member of the Ten Rings terrorist group.[1]

Security Exercise

S.H.I.E.L.D.'s first Helicarrier, whose construction was finished by 2012, was docked at a secret United States Naval Base when a spy managed to infiltrate the carrier. The man cleared his path to an archive room where he began to download Nick Fury's personal brief about the candidates to the Avengers Initiative.

While downloading, the archive presented a holographic display of Fury evaluating the primary candidates for the Initiative, being Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man and Thor.

S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Natasha Romanoff discovered the infiltration and fought the intruder, revealing that every terrorist organization and crime cartel in the world would like to know the specifications about the team.

The infiltrator tried to escape, attacking Romanoff with a Wristbow. She was able to deflect the arrow, and retaliated using the Black Widow's Bite, a weapon specially designed for her that emitted an electrical discharge. However, the weapon malfunctioned after the first shot and she had to discard it.

Director Nick Fury appeared and revealed the whole confrontation was a security exercise, defining it as a success, as it had to be as realistic as possible. Barton revealed a possible weak spot in the bilge pumps that could be used for an actual infiltration.

Having heard the assessment made by Fury in the files, Barton questioned if, as the candidates for the Avengers Initiative seemed to be wild cards, it was sure they could be counted in a hard situation. Fury simply answered that the situation where they would eventually need them would be the hardest of them all.[2]

The council dismissed the initiative, wanting him to focus on Phase 2, precisely designed for these kind of situations, but Fury tried to convince them that, as Phase 2 was not ready and their enemy was, the need for a response team was immediate.[3]

Coulson seized the opportunity to express his admiration to Rogers, although he was nervous for personally meeting his idol. Coulson revealed that he helped in the redesign of Captain America's Uniform, telling Rogers that what the events that happened and the ones that were about to come, maybe people would need something old fashioned as the Stars and Stripes.

Natasha Romanoff greeted Rogers and Coulson upon arriving, telling Coulson that he was needed at the bridge to assist in the search of Loki performing facial recognition. She also talked about the reactions Rogers' return caused, specially on Coulson, warning Rogers that Coulson would probably want him to sign his Captain America Card Collection.

Rogers came across Bruce Banner, greeting him and talking about his role in the search of the Tesseract. Banner thought that environment could be unusual for Rogers, but the military feel seen on the surface of the Helicarrier made Rogers remind his training days.

Romanoff asked the two men to enter inside the Helicarrier, first thinking that what appeared to be an aircraft carrier was a submarine. However, as both approached the edge of the carrier, they saw the engines and rotors, and realized it was a huge aircraft itself.[3]

Meeting with Nick Fury

Fury greeted Banner and Rogers and explained the current situation regarding Loki and the Tesseract. Coulson briefed about the means used during the search. Banner proposed to use the subtle Gamma Radiation emitted by the Tesseract, using spectrometers all over the world, and Romanoff accompanied Banner to the laboratory specially adapted for his work.
[3]

Capture of Loki

Loki was taken captive inside the Helicarrier and imprisoned in a cell designed to contain Hulk, that could be jettisoned the aircraft with a free fall of 30,000 feet. Although imprisoned, Loki taunted Fury with his knowledge of Hulk's nature and the despair he must suffer to call those creatures, comments that Banner and the rest of the members of the response team gathered by Fury overheard.

Thor explained Loki's plans of conquering Earth using an army of Chitauri coming from outside the Nine Realms. Banner commented that Loki controlled Erik Selvig, who happened to be one of Thor's friends from his time in New Mexico, but they couldn't figure Loki's true motivations due to his madness. Thor demanded respect for Loki, as he was still his brother, but Natasha Romanoff informed him that Loki killed at least 80 people in less than two days.

Tony Stark arrived accompanied by Phil Coulson, and explained Selvig's theories to use Iridium to stabilize the portal created by the Tesseract, being able to keep it open indefinitely, as Clint Barton would be able to obtain the rest of the components for the portal device, and they would only need a power source. During his dissertation, Stark told Thor not to have hard feelings about their earlier fight, asked about Fury's ability to see all the screens in his post due to his blind eye, and discovered a technician playing video games, all of these to cover the installation of a device that allowed J.A.R.V.I.S. to hack the mainframe of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Banner and Stark managed to comprehend Selvig's intentions to start the Tesseract, and Stark seized the opportunity to praise his scientific works, and also his ability to transform into Hulk. Fury arrived and told Stark that Banner's purpose was just to track the Tesseract. Steve Rogers suggested studying the Scepter carried by Loki, as it worked as a HYDRA weapon, and Fury replied that he wanted to know how Loki was able to use it to control two of the most intelligent men he knew.[3]

Search of the Cube

Tony Stark and Bruce Banner worked in the laboratory, analyzing the Scepter and trying to locate the Tesseract while Stark tried to provoke Banner. Steve Rogers appeared and reprimanded Stark for his behavior, saying that provoking Banner could potentially be devastating for all the people inside the Helicarrier.

Stark questioned Nick Fury's intentions, deducing that Fury was hiding something regarding the Tesseract. Rogers asked Banner's opinion about Stark's claims, and he guessed that one of Loki's quotes referred to the Stark Tower, powered with an Arc Reactor, that could have made Stark a potential asset in the study of the Tesseract, but S.H.I.E.L.D. did not count on him.

Stark revealed that he was hacking S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secret files in order to discover them, but Rogers tried to make Stark and Banner focus on their assigned tasks, with Stark and Rogers clashing, until Banner made Rogers think about all that was discussed.

When Rogers left, Stark tried to convince Banner to join the Avengers, but Banner explained how nightmarish his transformations were. Stark compared them with the shrapnel inside his chest, but slowed down by his Arc Reactor, and that the accident that transformed Banner could have killed him, he only has to learn to control his condition.

Meanwhile, Rogers went to infiltrate one of the vaults inside the Helicarrier, to learn the secrets Stark was talking about.[3]

Interrogation of Loki

Phil Coulson revealed to Thor that Jane Foster was offered a position in Tromsø to protect her from Loki's influence, and they discussed the reasons why Loki controlled specifically Erik Selvig, given that he was Thor's friend. Coulson revealed how Thor's arrival changed many things on the planet. Nick Fury asked Thor if he could make Loki reveal the location of the Tesseract, but Thor doubted that, as Loki needed to obtain revenge upon Thor.

Natasha Romanoff was able to caught Loki by surprise, approaching him inside his cell without being noticed, and Loki praised that there were not many people able to do such a thing. Loki said he expected Romanoff to appear after all the tortures that Fury could prepare, to comfort him and make him cooperate.

Romanoff demanded to know about Clint Barton's status, and if he could return to normal. Loki questioned her motives, and Romanoff dismissed the idea of being in love with Barton, she was in debt, because Barton was sent to kill her for her work before joining S.H.I.E.L.D., but Barton offered her a chance to redeem herself.

Loki laughed as she was negotiating for the life of a single man when the whole planet was endangered, and taunted Romanoff mentioning some of her former sins, and how the horrors she had committed were a part of her, and he threatened that he would order Barton to kill her with all means he knew, and that Loki would awake Barton in time to realize what he would have done, just to be killed.

After all menaces, Romanoff called Loki a monster, and he answered that the actual monster was theirs, unwittingly revealing his true motive for being captured, trigger Banner's transformation into Hulk inside the Helicarrier.[3]

Discord

Nick Fury went to laboratory to question Tony Stark about what he was doing hacking the mainframe, but Bruce Banner told him they were trying to find the Tesseract. Stark asked about Phase 2, but was Steve Rogers, who answered, having discovered HYDRA weapons, that Phase 2 was the production of weapons using the Tesseract.

Thor and Natasha Romanoff arrived to check Banner after Loki revealed his intentions to unleash Hulk, but Banner again asked why weapons of mass destruction were going to be built using the Tesseract. Fury answered that Thor's arrival on Earth demonstrated there were hostile alien races with a far superior firepower.

Loki's claims and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secrets sow the seeds of discord among all of them, starting to argue and let distrust grow, with tension rising until the search of the Tesseract found a match in New York City.[3]

Clint Barton and a team arrived to the Helicarrier on a Quinjet in the moment when the forces opposing Loki were more disbanded than ever before, and triggered a series of explosions that made the Helicarrier malfunction and start losing altitude. Maria Hill evaluated the situation, and informed that one of the engines stopped, and someone needed to repair it before the Helicarrier fell. Nick Fury asked Tony Stark to perform the repairs, with the assistance of Steve Rogers.

Natasha Romanoff and Bruce Banner fell to another level due to the explosions, and the situation triggered his transformation into Hulk despite Romanoff's attempts to calm him down. Hulk started pursuing Romanoff, and although she was able to evade him for awhile, Hulk ultimately caught her.

Thor's timely arrival saved Romanoff, and Thor went to try to fight Hulk. After exchanging some blows, Thor seemingly gained the upper hand, tricking Hulk into trying to lift Mjølnir, but Hulk beat Thor in the battle. The damage caused by the fight forced the jets escorting the Helicarrier to attack Hulk to attract his attention, making Hulk jump out of the Helicarrier and into free fall.

Barton infiltrated the Helicarrier with a group of mercenaries who attacked the bridge. Fury killed the first two mercenaries after an explosion, and Hill killed the third before he shot Fury. The mercenaries distracted them enough to allow Barton to shoot an arrow that caused more systems on the Helicarrier to malfunction, disconnecting another engine.

While Stark went to repair the damaged engine, Rogers was attacked by a group of mercenaries, being unable to assist Stark in time, who got trapped inside the engine while manually activating it to stabilize the carrier. Rogers pushed it before it was too late, and Stark managed to get out of the engine and assist Rogers.

Phil Coulson was ordered to carry out a defensive confinement in the area where Loki was held prisoner, and went to retrieve one of the most powerful weapons designed by S.H.I.E.L.D. from the armory. Thor, arriving to the cell to check on Loki, was tricked into being trapped inside the cell.

Romanoff went to confront Barton, who simply tried to kill her. During the fight, Romanoff was able to hit Barton's head, breaking Loki's control over him, and subsequently rendered him unconscious.

Coulson arrived when Loki was about to let the cell containing Thor fall from the Helicarrier, but Loki tricked him to with one of his illusions, and stabbed Coulson's chest with the Scepter from behind. Without saying anything, Loki threw the cell.

Coulson, in his dying breath, told Loki that he would ultimately lose, and while Loki summarized his latest triumphs, Coulson shot the Destroyer Armor Prototype Gun, knocking him down, but being able to recover and board a Quinjet to escape the Helicarrier.

Fury found Coulson still alive, who died telling him that the Avengers needed something. Although the paramedics arrived, they could do nothing for him.[3]

Fury explained them the purpose of the Avengers Initiative, to unite a group of remarkable people to let them become something more when they were needed, and how Phil Coulson died believing in that.

Clint Barton awoke, still confused after Natasha Romanoff was able to break Loki's control over him. Barton explained how he felt during his time under Loki's services. He tried to ask how many agents were killed due to his actions, but Romanoff told him not to do that to himself.

Barton and Romanoff discussed the need to stop Loki, although Barton noticed that she was a spy, not a soldier, but she wanted to go to war, and while asking what Loki did to her, Romanoff answered that she was compromised.

Rogers went to see Stark and asked him about Coulson's personal life, who was visiby upset by the loss of Coulson. Stark told Rogers that Coulson should not have confronted Loki alone, and that he would not blindly follow Fury's orders anymore.

They started to analyze Loki's motives, and how he attacked them in at a personal level. Stark deduced that Loki wanted to publicly beat them to assert his authority over the world, finally realizing that the portal would be opened at Stark Tower in New York City.

Captain America went to retrieve Black Widow in order to stop Loki, and Hawkeye joined them, as Rogers believed Romanoff's assertion that he was now freed from Loki's control.

Maria Hill asked Fury about Coulson's card collection, as it was in Coulson's locker and not in his jacket, but Fury told her that the Avengers needed that push. Fury saw Iron Man and the rest of the team leaving the Helicarrier, and promptly ordered to repair the communications in order to oversee the whole event.[3]

The Council decided to send a nuclear missile and make it explode in New York to contain the invasion, with Fury strongly objecting a decision to order a nuclear attack against civilians. However, the council overrode Fury's authority and ordered two F-35s to take off with orders of launching a missile to New York. Fury managed to prevent one of the jets from taking off with a RPG, but was unable to do it with the second, and contacted Tony Stark to inform him of the launch, with all the agents and technicians celebrating when Stark was able to prevent the explosion and sent the missile through the portal.

The Council contacted Fury again regarding the aftermath of the Battle, asking the location of the Avengers, and why Loki and the Tesseract was not under their custody. Fury was sure that Loki would pay for his crimes, and the Tesseract was better under Asgardian custody.

Fury was sure that now everyone in the world, and even other worlds, knew what the Avengers were able to do. Hill asked what would happen if another situation need the assemble of the Avengers, and Fury was confident they would return when needed.[3]

Beginning

During the HYDRA Uprising, the Helicarrier No. 64 was retrieved by loyal agents and later stored at the Theta Protocol Facility under the supervision of Sam Koenig, with Nick Fury's orders. Later, Phil Coulson was appointed director, he regularly visited the base in secret to see the state of the repair work under the guise of recruiting more agents. During this time, evacuation pods were incorporated into the Helicarrier.[4]

Nick Fury revealed the nature of Project Insight to Steve Rogers at the Triskelion, as Rogers was discussing the secrets kept in S.H.I.E.L.D., that compromised Rogers' mission to rescue the hostages in the Lemurian Star. To prove his point in protecting secrets by compartmentalizing the information, Fury invited Rogers to visit the Insight Bay, a subterranean complex under the Triskelion where a group of Helicarriers were being built. Fury had to override the elevator systems as Rogers had no clearance to know about Project Insight, and using his position as director, the elevator started to descend.

As they continued to ride down the elevator, Rogers noticed the three Helicarriers being constructed under the Triskelion, and Fury started to explain the purpose of Project Insight, that comprised three Helicarriers - code named IN-01, IN-02 and IN-03 - synced to a network of targeting satellites, that Rogers correctly guessed were launched from the Lemurian Star. The Helicarriers had been improved to maintain a continuous suborbital flight through a set of repulsor engines designed by Tony Stark, due to his experience restarting the turbines of the first Helicarrier.

Fury explained that the main goal of the Helicarriers was to eliminate hostiles easily through their long range precision guns, targeting terrorist via satellite, neutralizing threats even before they even happened. Rogers questioned the morality of punishing an action before comitting a crime, but Fury managed to convince the World Security Council of the need of an advanced method of threat analysis after the alien invasion in New York City.

Rogers was very concerned that Project Insight simply threatened people in the name of protection, and though his generation made some mistakes in the 1940s, everything was done in the name of freedom, something that now was made in the name of fear. As Fury told Rogers that he should start to accept the world in the same way S.H.I.E.L.D. did, Rogers defied Fury before leaving the Triskelion in his motorcycle.[7]

Rumlow and other STRIKE members entered the control room, and he ordered Cameron Klein, one of the launch technicians to bypass the launch sequence and send the Helicarriers immediately. Klein looked at Rumlow nervously, and breathed heavily until he replied to Rumlow, telling him he wasn't going to launch the Helicarriers under Captain America's orders.

Rumlow pointed his gun at Klein's head, ordering him to move away from his station, but Sharon Carter approached Rumlow, pointing his gun at him, telling him that as Klein said, those were Captain America's orders. All the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in the room drew their weapons, pointing them at Rumlow and the rest of the STRIKE operative.

Rumlow told Carter that she picked the wrong side, and he dropped his gun. Rumlow seized the opportunity to grab his knife and cuts Carter's arm, disarming her and beginning a gunfight between the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and STRIKE operatives. Carter managed to save Klein's life by kicking his chair while Rumlow was about to shoot him.

Amidst the chaos, Rumlow managed to activate the launch and escape while Carter retrieved a gun and tried to kill him. The three bays located outside the building were opened, and though one of the loyal S.H.I.E.L.D. agents tried to prevent the bays from opening, a STRIKE team killed the technicians in charge of the hanger and gunned him down, allowing the crews in the Helicarriers to take off.[7]

Boarding the Helicarriers

Maria Hill informed Captain America and Falcon that the Helicarriers were taking off, so they ran to board different carriers to change the targeting chips and force the ships to destroy each other. Falcon asked how to differentiate loyal S.H.I.E.L.D. agents from HYDRA operatives, and Captain America assured that HYDRA members would be shooting at him.

Captain America jumped to the nearest Helicarrier, while Falcon flew to another. As soon as Rogers landed, many crew members started shooting at him, though he managed to evade their shots and defeat many of them using their own grenades. Meanwhile, Falcon was shot by the heavy cannons of the carrier he was trying to board, and informed Rogers that he had found the bad guys they had been talking about.

One of the crew members on the Helicarriers informed his superior that they would reach the range of the Insight targeting satellites once they were at three thousand feet of altitude.

Hill asked about Falcon's status, who informed he was engaging in combat against the Helicarrier he was trying to board, and used his weapons to kill some of the operatives guarding the deck. As he was about to enter, Falcon was engaged by a Quinjet, and he was force to fly off and avoid getting hit.

Captain America continued to fight the HYDRA agents as he tried to get inside one of the Helicarriers, while Hill informed him that they only had eight minutes before the carriers could shoot their targets. Rogers finally managed to replace the targeting system with the one Nick Fury gave him, and informed Hill that the Alpha Helicarrier had been locked as he escaped.

Falcon had to escape from the Helicarrier as a Quinjet continued to pursue him, and he had to fly near the the Helicarrier to escape from a series of heat-seeking missiles launched by the Quinjet. Falcon managed to get the missiles hit the Helicarrier, allowing him to enter it.

Falcon informed Hill that he managed to enter, and quicly replaced the targeting system, updating Hill that the Bravo Helicarrier had been locked too. Hill briefed both Falcon and Captain America that only one Helicarrier was remaining.

A group of S.H.I.E.L.D. Pilots gathered to give air support to Captain America, but suddenly, the Winter Soldier appeared and destroyed one of the Quinjets about to take off. The Winter Soldier then killed all the pilots and crew on the deck, and destroyed every Quinjet to make sure they could not help Captain America, taking one of the Quinjets for himself to personally confront his enemy.

Hill informed Captain America and Falcon that the Charlie Helicarrier was at forty-five degrees off the port bow, and noticed two HYDRA operatives breaking into the control room where she was stationed. She killed them as they entered, and informed in the radio that only six minutes were left.

Captain America was trying to escape from the HYDRA operatives who were shooting at him on the Helicarrier, and he was forced to jump over as he called Falcon to catch him in the air. Falcon quickly flew towards Captain America, catching him in the air, and taking him to the Charlie Helicarrier.

Falcon took Captain America, whom he catched in the air while jumping from one of the hijacked Helicarriers, to the last remaining carrier, letting him know that he is a lot heavier than you look.

Suddenly, the Winter Soldier appeared and attacked Captain America, knocking him over the edge of the ship. Falcon tried to fly off and help Captain America, but the Winter Soldier grabbed one of his wings and threw him back. Falcon shot at the Winter Soldier, but he hid himself and fired a grappling hook to one of his wings as he was about to take off, breaking the wing and throwing Falcon off the Helicarrier. Falcon discarded his remaining wing, and opened his parachute to land on the roof of the Triskelion.

Falcon contacted Captain America to check his status, and Captain America, who managed to hold onto the side the Helicarrier, informed him that he was still on board. Falcon apologized for not being there, as he had fallen to the ground and, with his EXO-7 Falcon harness destroyed, he couldn't return to the Helicarrier in time, so Captain America was left alone to hijack the last Helicarrier and defeat the Winter Soldier.[7]

Duel on the Helicarrier

Captain America managed to enter the last remaining Helicarrier, where he was confronted by the Winter Soldier before managing to hijack the targeting system. He tried to reason with his friend, saying that many people would die and he couldn't let that happen, but the Winter Soldier coldly looked at him, so he asked not to make him fight his friend.

Seeing that the Winter Soldier won't let him pass, Captain America threw his shield at him, though the Winter Soldier managed to deflect this first hit, and started battling each other in the bridge of the Helicarrier. During the fight, Captain America managed to activate the console with the targeting system, removing the chip while evading some of the Winter Soldier's blows.

However, they both fell from the bridge during the fight, and Captain America lost the chip he had to place, having
falling below his reach as he lost grip of it during one of the soldier's blows.

Having descende to the glass dome, Captain America shielded himself from the Winter Soldier's shots, and disarmed him with his shield. However, the soldier stabbed Captain America in the shoulder with his knife and grabbed the fallen chip. Captain America quickly got the knife out, grabbing the Soldier by the throat, ordering to drop the chip.

Captain America continued to hold the Soldier's throat despite he tried to release himself, and began to choke him until he passed out. Captain America grabbed the chip and quickly rushed off to replace it. Maria Hill informed him that only a minute was remaining and Captain America tried to climb to the targeting system.

The Winter Soldier recovered conscience and started shooting at Captain America, woundin his leg. Captain America reache the system, but as he got the chip out, the Winter Soldier shot him in the stomach and made him fall to the ground. Captain America managed to got up and replace the chip when a few seconds were left to open fire.

Hill told Captain America to get out of the Helicarrier as she locked each Helicarrier to be targetted by the other two, but Captain America ordered her to fire, even though he was still inside, and she reluctantly opened fire. As the carriers started destroying each other, Captain America noticed the Winter Soldier trapped under the debris.

The Helicarriers continue to destroy each other, and the other two carriers crashed with each other, falling to the ground, and destroying the bays where they were stored during their construction.

Captain America, badly wounded, descended to the glass dome, and tried to liberate the Winter Soldier while the Helicarrier was destroying the Triskelion, burning Rumlow with it. Once he was freed, Captain America tried to reason with him, saying that they knew each other, but the Winter Soldier angrily attacked him while saying it was not true.

The Winter Soldier continued hitting Steve Captain America, but he chose not to fight back, and instead started revealing some data about him, like his full name being James Buchanan Barnes. Captain America took off his mask and dropped his shield out of the Helicarrier, saying that he was not going to fight him, as they were friends.

The Winter Soldier angrily pushed Rogers to the ground, and started punching him repeatedly across the face, saying he was just his mission, so Rogers told him to finish it. Bucky hesitated, while holding his fist up, as Rogers told him the same quote Barnes used to comfort him when Rogers' mother, Sarah, died.

The Winter Soldier started looking at Rogers as if he began to remember his past, but then a piece of the Helicarrier broke the glass dome, making Rogers fall to the river below as the Winter Soldier held to a piece of the ship. Rogers sinked at the bottom of the river, but the Winter Soldier rescued him before he died, grabbing him to the shore before departing.[7]

Capabilities

The Helicarrier is a seaworthy ship capable of VTOL flight by way of four huge lift fans mounted on the sides. It has two runways, one with direct access to a hangar at the rear is aligned along the spine of the vessel and is used for forward launches of aircraft, and the other diagonally aligned runway above is suitable for landings.[3]

Schematics for the Insight Helicarriers.

The Helicarriers created under Project Insight were next-gen and more advanced than the original. They had more offensive capabilities than the original did and were heavily-armed with long-range dorsal and ventral guns and cannons and have repulsor-powered engines instead of the old turbine-powered engines. Fury commented that this was done due to input from Tony Stark, "who had an upclose look at the old turbines".

S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarriers have retro-reflective panels lining their hulls, making them invisible to normal human vision below a certain elevation. They also possess radar cloaking capabilities, making them difficult to detect by other means. Helicarriers were the only known S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicles to receive such extensive cloaking capabilities, unlike the smaller vehicles, such as The Bus.[8] However, after the HYDRA Uprising, small vehicles, such as Quinjets, were fitted with this technology.[9]

Trivia

In the comics, the Helicarrier was more of a flying glass dome. Joss Whedon altered its design to resemble an Aircraft carrier in The Avengers in order to be more realistic. The glass dome design was later adapted into the Insight Helicarriers.